Accidenly ran my car WAY past the redline today
 

I was coming home from work today, I was haulin butt doin some corner carving. I was goin around a long left hander and I decided to kick it up and notch. I meant to move the geat selector from "OD" to "D", but I accidently moved it to second. Well I was going like 3500 in "OD" and my car relines at 5000. Anyway the tach peged past 6000. It was only there for a few seconds but it still scared the crap out of me, I spend 15 min. checking over the car to make sure every thing was Ok.

Have any of you guys ever done anything like this before?

well i hit about a little over 7k on my 1990 gt
i missed 2nd gear(foot to fast for hand) adn it also scared the **** out of me
every thing seemed ok after it it was there for prolly a second

ouch! you didnt have any valve clatter or anything, did you? does it seem ok? no tranny slip or anything?:eek:

the 4 cyl redlines pretty early compaired to my GT. i have had my auto 4 cyl up to 5600 before and nothen has happened.

If you were stock, then it didn't go over 6250rpm. tac might have read 7 but rev limiter is set at 6250.

I routinely ran my 4 banger past all the numbers on the tach for lengthy time frames, in one case, 15minutes straight. Hehehe.

Unit.....that's not healthy.

:O
 

eek! eek!

If the RPM's go high enough to float the valves, the valve springs are over heated and over stressed. This is supposed to permanently weaken the valve springs, allowing the valves to float at a lower RPM the next time. This is said to create a vicious circle necessitating replacement of valve springs.

I try never to let mine go over 6000. Theres nothing to be gained after 5500 anyway with my current set up that power peaks at 5100. I'm hoping for a little higher RPM power peak and more HP with my new TFTW stage 1 heads and 1.7 rr's.

Rev

Relax!

Factory rev limits are on the conservative side. I think ive over reved every car Ive ever owned and never had any problems what so ever. The manufacters dont build these things to self destruct with a few extra revs now and again.

lol yeah I agree with Mach 1. I have a 92 4 banger too. These motors are stronger than you think! Mine has been through hell and back with no problems at all.

I did have a spare engine laying around for it should something have given way. That and I was forced to overrev when 3rd and OD went out. Pile o crap A4LD automatic.

Yes, factory rev limits are conservative for the engine throwing itself apart, (unless you own a GM which may bend every pushrod in the engine should you even hit the redline, lol) but overreving still causes issues for longevity.

Man, when the throttle hung at Wide open on my old 289, My a$$ puckerd, especially when it hit 6200 RPMS (that was the last I looked at the tach, before the throttle came off the floor.). It held at least a 6000 RPM blast for 20-30 seconds.

Another time, My car had a vaccum leak and was hard to crank, so I popped the hood, and told my friend to start it up. It didnt, I told him to give it "A LITTLE GAS".

Well, he floored it and it cranked. That Mill screamed. I dove from underneath the hood expecting it to blow. He promptly shut it down when He saw me do an Action Hero Movie star Dive from out of the hood. Then asked if its bad when the needle on the "Tach THINGY" goes up between 6 and 7. :eek:

I usually shift it at 5200 when racing.

I dont think an occasional over rev or two is any concern for longevity eithier.

Obviously you dont want to over rev you engine on a regular basis, but a few times shouldnt be of concern to the life span of a well maintained engine.

My throttle hung on my 90 also after I did the rebuild. It stuck up to about 7000. I was scared. It had never happened before. I was driving with the cruise on. I hit the button to turn it off and clutched it at the same time. I was rollling into an off ramp. I clutched it and the r's went up. the pedal was stuck and I couldnt get it off. I shut the motor off with the key. Coasted to the top of the hill ande spent about 15 minutes checking it over like you did. But it did no damage. And it was on a new motor. Only about 700 miles on it when that happened.

Brad

Well, I once missed 3rd whilst powershifting on the bottle at our local track..

Reminds me "the night before christmas"....when I arouse from my drivers seat to hear such a clatter...

Damage: 3 bent pushrods, 1 colapsed lifter, 1 broken rocker arm.

I'm unsure how high she went, but I'm guessing somewhere in the 7500-8000RPM range.

damn that sucks

I've never had my 351 up past 6000....revved it up just under that once, accidentally, but it ran fine and didn't make any noise....so I just babied it the rest of the night.

If you wanna check for any bent valves etc take your coil wire off and crank it over.

Listen for smooth cranking rpm's. In other words, listen for a normal sounding motor cranking over.

If the rpm is all over the place then you might have bent some valves or push rods.

But if the car runs ok and there is no audiable noise either at idle or cruise, then i wouldn't sweat it.

I took my 4 banger over 7000 one time. I was passing an old lady on a short passing lane, left it in second doing over 75mph. My motor shodowed my mph exlacty, so if I was going 75 in second, I was doing 7500 rpm's. I fiqured it out when I thought I was hearing a strange niose from the motor, finally shifted to third. A month later my motor ate oil like crazy. A quart a week. Not good. Now I'm putting in a 302.